Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If a person had a large portion of savings, what would be the position? I agree with the Minister of State that the circumstances are unlikely to arise but with such measures people look for loopholes. If a well-off individual has considerable savings worth €1 million and decides to buy a property with a value equivalent to those savings, the DIRT benefit he or she could accrue over four years would be quite nice. One could sell the property at a later stage. The point is that there are no anti-avoidance measures in the legislation. The scheme is targeted at first-time buyers looking for a mortgage but this is not specified. Noble intentions are one thing but there are tax accountants and others whom I am sure are beavering away to find out how to give a legal benefit to their clients. I have pointed to a possible way of doing so. There are no anti-avoidance measures contained in the legislation.